Mastering Authentic Chinese Home Cooking: An Interview with Red Cook’s Kian Lam Kho & Easy Stir-Fry Recipe
Today, we are incredibly honored to host Kian Lam Kho, the culinary visionary behind Red Cook, Adventures from a Chinese Home Kitchen. As someone relatively new to the intricate world of Chinese gastronomy, the opportunity to dive deep into its secrets with such an expert is truly thrilling. Without further ado, let’s explore the rich traditions and practical aspects of Chinese cuisine!
Kian Lam Kho: Unveiling the Secrets of Chinese Cuisine
Where did your culinary journey begin, and how did you learn to cook?
Food and cooking have been lifelong passions for me, stemming from my childhood in Singapore. My serious exploration into cooking techniques began during my college years in Boston, where I delved into various culinary texts and experimented extensively. Since then, I’ve dedicated countless hours to research, not only to master Chinese cooking methods but also to deeply understand how they diverge from and complement Western culinary traditions. This comparative study has enriched my perspective and informed my approach to sharing Chinese cooking with a broader audience.
In your expert opinion, how challenging is it to truly master Chinese food?
Chinese cooking is often subject to considerable misunderstanding in the West, largely because there’s a scarcity of comprehensive resources that clearly articulate its fundamental techniques and philosophies. This leads many to perceive it as an exceptionally difficult cuisine to master. However, I firmly believe that if the core cooking concepts, precise procedures, and underlying principles are lucidly explained and demonstrated, Chinese cooking can be made accessible and ultimately mastered by anyone with patience and dedication. It’s less about innate talent and more about understanding the “why” behind each step.
What are the absolute “must-have” ingredients in your pantry for preparing Chinese dishes at home?
While authentic Chinese cooking often appears to demand a vast array of specialized ingredients, it’s entirely feasible to stock a foundational pantry for everyday Chinese meals. A well-equipped Chinese pantry should always include dark and light soy sauce for depth and seasoning, black rice vinegar for its distinct tang, Shaoxing cooking wine to add complexity, toasted sesame oil for aroma, oyster sauce for umami, and corn starch for thickening. Beyond these staples, the culinary landscape of China boasts an incredible diversity of additional ingredients, particularly an extensive collection of sauces and pastes derived from soybeans and chilies. These regional specialties are simply too numerous to list exhaustively, each contributing unique flavors to specific dishes.
You’ve eaten many exotic foods. What’s the weirdest ingredient you’ve ever cooked with?
Indeed, I’ve had the pleasure of sampling a wide range of unusual foods, including various insects, worms, and snails. However, if I had to pinpoint the absolute weirdest ingredient I’ve personally cooked with, it would undoubtedly be sea cucumbers. These fascinating creatures are technically sea slugs, typically presenting a grayish-brown hue and often featuring a distinctive spiky surface. They possess a unique gelatinous texture and offer a subtle, clean ocean taste. Despite their unusual appearance, I genuinely enjoy eating them and incorporate them into my cooking quite regularly.
Perhaps you can help clarify a common debate: what’s the biggest difference between American Chinese food and classic Chinese food?
The primary distinction between American Chinese food and the food found in China lies in the adaptation of ingredients and the subtle alterations in flavor profiles. American Chinese cuisine frequently prioritizes deep-frying to achieve a crispy texture and often uses sugar more generously to enhance sweetness. These characteristics were developed to cater specifically to the American palate, much in the same way that fiery chilies and numbing Sichuan peppercorns are used to delight the local palate in Sichuan. Like many other immigrant cuisines, American Chinese food represents the culinary evolution of Chinese immigrants, adapting to locally available ingredients and prevailing taste preferences. Personally, I view American Chinese food as a distinct sub-cuisine, much like Sichuan cuisine is a distinct regional style. Furthermore, it’s crucial to remember that food culture is dynamic, constantly evolving across time and geography. The concept of “authenticity” is thus relative, valid only for a particular period and geographical location. Many ingredients now considered quintessential to Chinese cooking, such as chili, peanut, and potato, were themselves foreign imports at one point in history.
What are your top 3 staple dishes that someone new to Chinese cooking should try to master first?
It’s genuinely challenging, almost impossible, to narrow down the vast array of amazing Chinese dishes to just three universal staples. However, I can certainly highlight three types of dishes that are consistently fundamental to home-cooked Chinese meals. First among them are the “red cooked” dishes, known as hong shao (红烧). These include beloved preparations like red-cooked pork, red-cooked chicken, or red-cooked fish, characterized by their rich, savory, and slightly sweet flavor derived from soy sauce and sugar. Secondly, stir-fried dishes are indispensable. These are incredibly versatile and can range from simple vegetable stir-fries featuring bok choy, cabbage, or pea shoots, to more complex combinations with meat. Finally, a tureen of comforting pork bone soup is a common and cherished staple at the dining table, often enhanced with vegetables like daikon, carrots, sweet corn, or turnips. It’s important to remember that these are examples of home-style comfort foods; elaborate banquet dishes represent a very different segment of Chinese cuisine.
What truly sets Chinese food apart from other world cuisines?
Without a doubt, the quintessential stir-frying technique is what most distinctly differentiates Chinese cooking from other global cuisines. While stir-frying is merely one of many diverse cooking techniques within the vast Chinese culinary repertoire, it is arguably the most influential and uniquely emblematic. This method involves cooking ingredients rapidly over intensely high heat for a relatively short duration. This efficient process is superior in its ability to retain the natural nutrients, vibrant colors, and fresh flavors of the ingredients, consistently resulting in wholesome and healthy dishes. Additionally, the widespread and ingenious use of myriad soybean-based sauces and pastes (such as soy sauce, bean paste, and fermented tofu) imparts a uniquely complex and savory Chinese flavor profile to many dishes, distinguishing them from other culinary traditions.
If you had to choose – and this might be a bit of an unfair question – what would be your ultimate full course Chinese meal?
An ultimate full course Chinese meal would ideally be presented in the traditional banquet style, designed to showcase a broad spectrum of cooking methods, diverse ingredients, and contrasting flavors and textures. Such a meal typically features at least ten distinct courses. It would commence with a selection of refreshing cold dishes, followed by exquisite stir-fried shellfish, rich and tender braised pork, succulent roasted squabs, vibrant steamed seasonal vegetables, a nourishing soup, flavorful stir-fried lamb, perfectly crisp-fried fish, a substantial serving of fried rice or noodles, and culminate with a delightful sweet dessert dish. Each course offers a unique experience, contributing to a harmonious and memorable culinary journey.
A massive thank you to Kian Lam Kho for sharing his profound insights and expertise! I feel incredibly inspired and ready to embark on my own Chinese cooking adventures!
My inaugural foray into Chinese cooking had to be a classic stir-fry. It’s a longtime favorite of mine, and surprisingly, the actual process of making it was far less intimidating than I had initially imagined! The essence of the stir-frying technique truly lies in high-temperature cooking over a very short duration. Dishes cook incredibly fast; the key to success is having all your ingredients meticulously prepped and ready before you even start heating the wok. Once your “mise en place” is complete, you’ll find the process smooth and rewarding.
Table of Contents
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Delicious & Easy Chinese Chicken Stir Fry
15 minutes
15 minutes
30 minutes
Ingredients
- ½ onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp ginger minced
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into small pieces
- 1 red bell pepper cut into thin strips
- 1/3 lb snap peas cleaned
- 1 bunch baby or Chinese broccoli trimmed
- 5 oz sliced water chestnuts
- ¾ cup halved cashews
- Sesame seeds to finish
Sauce
- 3 ½ Tbsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp Sriracha
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1 Tbsp Chinese Five Spice
Instructions
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Prepare the Sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk together all the sauce ingredients until well combined. Set this aside.
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Stir-Fry: Ensure all your remaining ingredients (onion, garlic, ginger, chicken, bell pepper, snap peas, broccoli, water chestnuts, cashews) are prepped and ready to go. This “mise en place” is crucial for successful stir-frying! Heat your wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the olive oil, swirling it to coat the sides and bottom. Once the pan and oil are very hot (you might see a slight shimmer or faint smoke), add the diced onion, minced garlic, and minced ginger. Cook for about 2 minutes until the onion begins to soften and fragrant. Add the chopped chicken pieces and cook for approximately 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until no longer pink. Next, add the red bell pepper strips, snap peas, and broccoli florets. Continue to stir-fry for 1-2 minutes, allowing the vegetables to become partially cooked but still retain a slight crispness. Finally, create a small well in the center of the wok and pour in the prepared sauce. Stir quickly to thicken the sauce and then toss to combine thoroughly with all the other ingredients, ensuring everything is well coated. Remove the wok from the heat immediately.
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Finish and Serve: Stir in the cashews and water chestnuts. Serve your delicious Chinese Stir Fry immediately, garnished with a sprinkle of sesame seeds. This dish pairs wonderfully with steamed rice or noodles.
Main Dish
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